


You are Home

by angeldescendant



Category: Devilman (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Ambiguous/Open Ending, Birthday Fluff, Family Fluff, Fluff, Light Angst, M/M, No Drama just love, Surfing, ryo being a nice guy and surprising akira
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-25
Updated: 2018-02-25
Packaged: 2019-03-23 20:15:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,621
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13795479
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/angeldescendant/pseuds/angeldescendant
Summary: Birthday!AU. Ryo comes back to his hometown after many years to surprise his old friend. He wasn't expecting anything else.





	You are Home

**Author's Note:**

  * For [spidersrorg](https://archiveofourown.org/users/spidersrorg/gifts).



_24_  
You’re in a car with a beautiful boy, and he won’t tell you that he loves  
you, but he loves you. And you feel like you’ve done something terr-  
ible, like robbed a liquor store, or swallowed pills, or shoveled yourself  
a grave in the dirt, and you’re tired. You’re in a car with a beautiful boy,  
and you’re trying not to tell him that you love him, and you’re trying to  
choke down the feeling, and you’re trembling, but he reaches over and  
he touches you, like a prayer for which no words exist, and you feel your  
heart taking root in your body, like you’ve discovered something you  
don’t even have a name for.

 _You are Jeff,_ Richard Siken

* * *

  
It wasn’t just raining cats and dogs. Toss in elephants and orcas as Ryo and his coworkers drove through the winding one-way roads, some unpaved and some already victims of seasonal landslides all for the sake of catching a good wave.

 

“I thought the storm had left last night. Maybe we should have ditched the trip,” complained a bleary-eyed Zennon as they waited for a bus to pass.

 

“You are most welcome to walk the 200 kilometres we drove,” Ryo smiled benignly, reminding him in the sweetest manner possible that he had every right to leave for their peace and quiet and not like he gives a shit about him driving for more than five hours already.

 

Zennon noted this with a throbbing bottom lip as he plodded his way carefully through a slab of flat cement that used to be a road. Ryo, however, could hear the mumbling that he made sure to shatter by playing one BeeGees song on loop at nearly 110 decibels, reducing his colleague to a whimper and needless begging to axe him from his auditory misery.

 

“Fuck no,” Ryo said gleefully as he replayed the track.

 

Silene rolled her eyes.

 

“Are you sure the typhoon season is the reason why we’re going?” she said at his direction from the backseat.

 

Jenny and Kaim exchanged smug looks.

 

“Say, you said that you originally lived in that town, _right_?” Zennon instantly recovered just by the thought of wiping the smirk off his face.

 

“Fuck off,” Ryo stared at the window instead, wishing for a landslide to swallow their car already.

 

“Mind telling us why you are so defensive, boss?” drawled Zennon and deserving enough to receive a whack in the head.

 

“You don’t have to hide it,” said Silene. “Why… Who…” she added to dramatic effect. Ryo said nothing and continued forcibly believing that the windshield wipers were interesting. “It took you so long to invite us.”

 

“I did not think this day would come,” he said. “But…”

 

“You don’t have any other options?” supplied Kaim.

 

“Think we’re cool and awesome guys to rely on and trust completely?” Zennon grinned.

 

“Because tomorrow’s a special day,” Ryo said, making sure to twist the volume of the speaker so Zennon would nearly swerve near the cliff and because he’s the one friend anyone wouldn’t invite if he didn’t own a car. “No other reason.”

 

Ryo should have turned his head to see the expression on their faces.

 

* * *

 

He hadn’t seen Akira for almost ten years after junior high. He left for the UK then with his parents. He does return home every three years, but their schedules mismatch and he left for college to the city and then got swamped by brands and stocks to give a shit about anything else. Under the pretext of a team-building activity for his group though, there might be hope of seeing that asshole.

 

Fucker made him go on leave without pay so he should as well drag his team along with him.

 

Zennon had already fallen down somewhere, preferably in the kitchen sink so the mess could be wiped out by soapsuds and icy tap water. The rest of his friends were already busy donning their beach clothes to chase the sunrise that was starting to sift through the clouds.

 

“Not coming with us?” Jenny asked him as he kept his short-sleeved pullover, loose white shorts and sneakers.

 

“Yeah, I have to visit my parents. I haven’t seen them in awhile,” he said. “Plus I have to buy stuff at the market so we’d have something to make with.”

 

“You don’t want me to…”

 

“I can go by myself,” he said, waving it off. “Just make sure Zennon doesn’t make a scene when he wakes up.”

 

Jenny ruffled his hair to his annoyance. He sometimes feels an ache in his gut when he remembers how he moved past her in the ranks when she was her senior by two years and still treats her like a kid. He lazily waved as he continued to walk past the narrow roads and dodged a car or two, walking through a new string of hotels and hostels that sprouted like weeds at the raining of tourists over the past few years.

 

He managed to pass by a flower shop on the verge of opening to get a fresh batch of pink and purple sweet peas. The sky was already a pastel shade of blue when he arrived at the entrance. He passed through the small worn footpath, a product of people avoiding the mud that came after the rain.

 

He stopped and bent a leg to lower the flowers when he finally saw them. He touched their etched names on the stones, already weathered over the years. It had been awhile.

 

“I brought my colleagues to visit. They were really insistent,” he stopped and sat, ignoring how his shorts would be the subject of amusement once he returned.

 

A frog croaked nearby.

 

Ryo had run out of things to tell and he was feeling stupider with every passing second. He stood up and only then noticed the batch of chrysanthemums mellowly mingling with the sweet peas. His mouth grew taut then.

 

“Looks like he came to see you too,” he said as a soft breeze began to blow.

 

* * *

 

By the time he returned, most of his friends were still busy mooching off in the beach just outside their hotel to his satisfaction. They also seemed to have made a new friend, already surfing with them. Good. He did not need their presence yet until later. He grabs the paper bag he nestled in the middle of his duffel bag and as quickly as he could, he went to a small bungalow just fifteen minutes away and near the elementary school he attended.

 

Akira’s parents did not seem to have aged at all and this made his jaw slacken more than theirs. Their eyes sparkled and hands invaded his entire being, complimenting his hair, his height, even his skin… He shook himself from every annoyance as they let him inside. Their old pictures were still in the same old frames as well as the familiar china and stone sculptures were kept on the shelves.

 

“You haven’t visited in a while. Akira will be in for a surprise,” said his mother, now giving him omelette and hotdog and sausage and salted fish and a bowl of rice porridge. “You want some toast, dear?”

 

“This is too much…” Ryo said halfway but thought better of it and just dug in. His stomach was just unleashing the beast; who knows what he can’t eat?

 

“Akira eats four times as many,” his dad grinned at him. “He already went out though to give flowers to your mom and dad.”

 

“Yes, I saw it while visiting them,” Ryo said between swallows. “I haven’t seen him though.”

 

“Aww, that’s a shame. You’re in for a surprise if you meet,” his dad winked. “He hasn’t aged well, unfortunately.”

 

Ryo snickered at this but in between helpings of porridge.

 

“What made you come home? Akira often said you were busy with work.”

 

“I have a team building activity with my group this weekend,” he said. “Might as well squeeze my time visiting.”

 

“Oh, really? Invite them to lunch later. Reijiro will be grilling these huge parrotfish we bought straight from the fishermen earlier. Maybe tomorrow as well? It’s-“

 

“We’ll be coming,” Ryo nodded and kicked his paper bag further under his chair. He did not expect Akira’s absence, given his tendency to sleep until ten minutes before the bell. Ryo would end up waiting for him before their flag ceremony and become the unofficial go-to man to wake him.

 

“Akira always talks about you, you know. He misses you a lot,” said Kaori.

 

“He did not tell us you were coming though,” said his dad.

 

Ryo smiled at this. “I didn’t tell him. I wanted to make tomorrow special.” He was supposed to see Akira then, but he might as well make up things as he goes along.

 

“Oh, a surprise?” his mother’s eyes sparkled. “I can’t wait! Can Reijiro and I be a part of it too?”

 

“I can’t wait to have a picture of that! Count us in!” her husband said in assent and that was the end of that.

 

* * *

 

Ryo asked them to bring their tablets and reserved the conference room in their hotel just to make sure this was serious business. He also brought Akira’s parents along.

 

“You should’ve come with us, man!” said Zennon. “The local we befriended got us to check out this secret spot. The waves were perfect. We’re inviting him tomorrow to surf with us again. You should come!”

 

“Pass, and surfing is not the main reason why I even invited you,” Ryo said flippantly as he turned on the projector. “I needed your help to set up the place for my friend’s birthday. I invited some of our old classmates along to come as well since he hasn’t seen any of us for years after junior high. I already gave Silene and Kaim the theme and backdrop of the reception. You two will prepare the decors. Jenny will be in charge of the catering along with my friend’s father, his mother will assist me with the final touches while you will be the gopher and every-man-“

 

“Wait, wait, wait, so the reason why we came here isn’t for a surfing getaway but for-“ It finally dawned on this idiot and this made Ryo quite pleased with himself. “And you guys are ok with this?” he wailed at the rest of them.

 

Jenny shrugged. “We figured you wouldn’t come along if Ryo told you the truth.”

 

“And we needed your car,” said Kaim.

 

“…I should pick better friend…” Zennon concluded. “Aww man, I even promised our friend that we’d surf tomorrow-“

“Invite him to the party then, I don’t care,” said Ryo dismissively. “You will be eating lunch in ten minutes courtesy of the Fudo’s. After this, we will commence our operation. I don’t want to hear any objections, especially from you, Zennon.” He then clapped his hands for them to move. He couldn’t mask his excitement.

 

* * *

 

“Don’t you really want to catch a break? You’re still busy here.” Silene said as she continued to letter ‘Happy Birthday’ to tie along the fairy lights. The reception will be at Akira’s grandmother’s house a twenty-minute ride away from town. They decided to prop up long wooden tables just outside the house for the food and some more scattered wooden tables for the guests to eat in. There was a long patch of land as well for the party games his old classmate, Miki, was vehemently insisting on holding. She was there along with their other classmate, Miko, as well.

 

“We can still enjoy on Sunday morning. This is just something I’ve been planning for a long time now.”

 

Silene grinned at this. “Have you told him yet?”

 

“I can’t imagine that fool to feel the same way. He was always the densest in class,” Ryo shook his head. “Besides, I can’t resign just to come with him and vice versa.”

 

“You’re not a big fan of Disney movies, aren’t you?” Silene laughed.

 

“I don’t believe in perfect endings. Real life doesn’t usually work that way,” Ryo snorted.

 

“Why are you doing this then if that’s true?” she said with a swish of her brush. “You may lie to yourself, but you can’t fool us. That’s a cute side of you we don’t often see.” She then took the ornaments to Kaim and supported the chair he was standing on. That was a good thing.

 

Otherwise, she would have seen him turn pink.

 

* * *

 

Ryo couldn’t believe that Zennon would be this big of an idiot.

 

No, he shouldn’t be blaming Zennon. He should’ve added this to the realm of his predictions that he should never, _ever,_ trust this nincompoop.

 

It began with an innocent call for help, of course.

 

“Ryo? I brought our friend along and we’re kind of lost. He said he wanted to help in setting up.”

 

This was just three hours before the surprise. The plan was for Akira to receive a note from his parents to come to their venue and then the party would happen until evening, some karaoke here and there, and then a good night of drinking out.

 

Things would not go according to plan.

 

“Yeah, sure, Jenny and I’ll pick you up,” Ryo said, scratching his head. The GPS would not work around this parts, so Zennon’s poor spatial knowledge was understandable. What he did not expect, however, was what happened after and made the car temperature rise by several hundred degrees. He turned to Jenny.

 

“Judging by that look, the shotgun in the trunk has two more rounds.”

 

Ryo nodded and scrambled his way to make sure he’ll blow that fucker’s brains out.

 

“What did that idiot do this time?” said Jenny as she continued to press the pedal on Zennon’s car just to get a clear view of them. They already passed by the designated place and were now cruising across the rocky coast that led to the lighthouse.

 

“Akira’s with him? I know that hair from anywhere.”

 

“What?” Jenny said incredulously and turned on her phone. Ryo locked the gun and was about to open the window when he saw Akira look from behind. He ducked down. “Zennon, turn the speaker off please and give me the best answer in what the fuck you’re doing.”

 

“Uhm, yeah I see you from behind. Should I turn and-“

 

“No, you stupid piece of shit!” Ryo spat, unable to control himself as he made sure he has a clear aim of that idiot’s head. “Don’t you know who the heck you’re taking with you?”

 

“Eh, he’s the local I talked about yesterday-“

 

“He-“ he tried to inhale the inner depths of his patience to make sure he doesn’t pull the trigger at the wrong time. “-is the reason why I even returned here in the first place.”

 

Silence.

 

“Ahaha,” Zennon tittered nervously. “I’m going to be killed, right?”

 

“Does he know about me?” he said in the softest voice he could. Jenny’s hairs stood on end at this.

 

“Uh-Uhm, I don’t think I’ve mentioned your name. I just said-“

 

Ryo dropped the call and affixed the gun. “Don’t stop me.”

 

“If you do that, Akira might crash. You don’t want that, do you?”

“Shit, I can’t let him see me like this though,” Ryo said, biting the edge of his thumb. “And I can’t let that Zennon stay with him. He might spill.”

 

“We have no choice then,” Jenny said, donning her sunglasses and turning on her playlist. “Leave it to me.”

 

* * *

 

Ryo couldn’t breathe. Not because he was in the back and pretending to be a statue of a beautiful angel that was too lifelike to even be in the back, but because he could hear Akira’s voice for the first time in years.

 

Jenny made sure Zennon would pull over and sock him in the face. He was unconscious in the back seat while Akira was in front.

 

“How long will you guys stay here? I still haven’t met your boss Z keeps talking about.”

 

Ryo made another mental note of the 13 reasons why he should kill that useless underling of his. He also made another mental note of how Ryo’s voice could drop that deep and leave a sucker punch in his gut.

 

“We’ll be leaving tomorrow. I’m sure you’ll be able to see our boss soon though.”

 

There was something in Akira’s laugh that seemed so different and yet so familiar that made Ryo burrow himself further down.

 

“That’s good. I still can’t believe you’d skip work just to come here to surf. You guys are really stoked.”

 

“Dunno about that,” Jenny laughed. “My boss always wanted to come here. I mean, he doesn’t show it, but we jumped on the opportunity to come when he asked us. He’s a real workaholic and it’s good that he wants to catch a break but-“ she paused.

 

“But?”

 

“…We never really asked him about himself. There’s a good reason why he didn’t want to come. He never really thought this was a place he’d want to return to. I mean- he didn’t tell us this, but we could feel it when he never invited us to his place or to see his family…”

 

Ryo felt something terrible swell in his stomach and found himself unable to keep still.

 

“Then there must be a better reason why he returned,” he supplanted.

 

“Yes. I guess he found it.”

 

Even through his ears alone, he knew Jenny was crying as she uttered those words.

 

* * *

 

 

Ryo wished he saw Akira’s expression when they drove to his grandparents’ place and everyone began clapping as he stepped out. Miki was on the mic, bidding him a happy birthday and began singing a birthday song along with the rest. He wished he saw Akira’s expression as he embraced his parents and then his old elementary friends. But of course, he couldn’t trust his group to videotape everything.

 

Jenny opened the trunk just in time for Miki to say: So Akira, I’m sure you’re wondering who orchestrated this!

 

He could hear Akira ask out, ‘Spill already!’

 

“Make us proud, Ryo,” Jenny said, ruffling his hair as he pushed him forward. He couldn’t find his putting as he stumbled just behind Akira.

 

“Turn around!” Miki squealed. Akira obeyed but Ryo wasn’t ready and-

 

And.

 

Ryo couldn’t stop himself from breaking the spell to shut everyone up as they begin to cheer. Akira did not know what to do as well. He backtracked and began taking him in, from his white shorts and his shirt and his bowl cut. Ryo also took him in too, that rebellious hair, those narrow eyes, that lopsided grin that grew wider and wider the more it dawned on him who he was.

 

“Holy shit,” he said and everyone laughed. “That… uhm, did someone record that?” Cheers began to rain and Ryo felt like a total fucking deer about to be rammed by a large truck. “Y-You’re Ryo, right?”

 

“Fuck you,” he said and by then their audience began to maniacally cheer. From the corner of his eye, he could see Akira’s parents clapping along, proud smiles on their faces. This made Ryo shrink a little as Akira placed one long arm around his shoulders.

 

“I can’t believe you came,” he boomed and found himself looking at Miki. “Start the program already. You know how Ryo hates it when things don’t go according to his plans.”

 

Akira kept holding onto his arm throughout. Even as he passed to chat with their old friends and his relatives and some family members, he never let go. It would have annoyed Ryo, but he wasn’t annoyed. This surprised him.

 

The parlour games Miki and Miko hosted were the wildest part of the party. Silene kept insisting to play through every game with Kaim. Akira’s parents joined in the fun as well along with some of their old friends.

 

“I can’t believe Miki would think of something like this,” Ryo noted as the blindfolded players fumbled through their partners’ sides to pop the balloon strung around their waists. The only way to pop it was to push and thrust hard-

Akira laughed at this. “Miki was always a goody-two-shoes when you’re around. She couldn’t stand the thought of you judging her.”

 

“I can’t believe I participated in the first one,” he said, noting of the banana they had to position between their legs and laced with peanut butter, where the partner has to use their mouths to-

 

“You should have let me do the eating,” he said at this. “It makes your being a virgin more obvious, you know.”

 

“You son of a bitch,” Ryo found it difficult to punch his arm because of how hard it was. Definitely something he didn’t expect from the kid he always protected.

 

“I’m glad you came though. Much better than chatting with you online,” Akira said, squeezing his arm reassuringly.

 

Zennon’s group managed to trump over Silene’s this time. He downed two shots of whiskey as a reward.

 

“I guess,” said Ryo. Gosh, it was really hard to stare at Akira’s eyes for too long. He should be more mature than this. “I saw the flowers. Do you give them that whenever you visit?”

 

“I try to. I mean… I guess it makes sense for you not to come back here. Too much painful memories.”

 

“It’s fine,” Ryo said as he squeezed Akira’s far bigger hand. “I’m home.”

 

Akira’s voice reminded him of the sunsets they had by the sea, eating street food as their feet accepted the lull of the waves at low tide. “Yeah. Welcome home.”

 

He had no name for that feeling. But he liked how Akira’s hand filled the gaps of his own.

 

**Author's Note:**

> spiderorg requested on twitter for an okaeri/tadaima fic and I hope I delivered ahhhh
> 
> You can find me on twitter @ellynadarna and recommend dmcb anything I beg you TAT Anyway, I will probably begin the initial projects I made for Ryo and Akira because it's been so long already I should start them 
> 
> Thank you for reading!


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